Driver in fatal mowing crash has speeding tickets

Published: Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 5:49 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 10:57 p.m.

Florida Highway Patrol investigators will spend the next several weeks trying to determine what happened Monday when a driver struck and killed a woman as she cut grass in a county median.

Investigators will be looking at cellphone records and other potential contributing factors in the crash, an FHP spokesman said.

Andrea Rody, 45, was struck Monday morning as she trimmed grass in a median — near her home on Mauna Loa Boulevard — that grew high due to a county contract dispute with a mowing firm. She was flown to a hospital in St. Petersburg and died hours later.

The driver who hit her, 20-year-old Samantha Lax of Sarasota, was driving a 2001 Lexus when she hit Rody around 9:30 a.m. Monday, FHP said.

Court records show Lax has prior speeding tickets and other traffic violations on her record. FHP said it could take take up to two months to complete the investigation.

Rody's partner, Nan Nahum, said she was told by officers that Rody blamed Sarasota County government for her injuries before she died. A local firm hired to mow in the medians abandoned the $1.8 million contract in May.

Nahum, reached on Tuesday, said she was unsure if the family would attempt to sue the county, and said they have not hired an attorney.

“We haven't decided,” Nahum said. “It's too soon; I'm just trying to get through this day.”

Lax, the driver, was sent to mandatory traffic school in October 2010 after she was ticketed for going 6 to 9 miles over the speed limit, according to court records. Lax was also ticketed for failing to carry her registration in her car in January 2010.

She was first ticketed in 2009 for driving 15 to 19 miles over the speed limit, as well as for not producing her registration.

Lax could not be reached for comment. Her Facebook profile indicates she graduated from Pine View School in 2010 and attends the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Median grasses around the county grew high when a local firm, Bloomings Landscape and Turf Management, abandoned the contract for mowing and other work. Competing firms said Bloomings' bid of $1.8 million was so low the company would not be able to perform the work. Bloomings' $1.8 million bid was well under the county's budget of $2.5 million.

Since then, the county has scrambled to find new landscaping firms to cut the grass, and that work began in three of four sections of the county last week. A contract for a company to handle the last section — the urban north — is under legal review and mowing is expected to begin there next week, according to county officials.

County employees have been handling some mowing while there was no contract, and will continue to help out the new contracted mowers until the situation is under control. But there were not enough county employees to keep up with the grass, and the backlog created means it will take at least a month for all the medians and roadsides to get back to normal.

“We're all really saddened by the loss of one of our citizens,” County Commissioner Christine Robinson said Tuesday. “We encourage everyone to be patient because this is a temporary situation.”

According to a county report, county employees on their way to mow grass in other areas were driving by and noticed Rody cutting grass at about 8 a.m. Rody cursed at the employees, asking them why the grass was so high. The employees then left and put in a work order to mow the median Rody was working on.

Two county employees returned to the area at 9:30 a.m. to tell Rody that the medians would be mowed no later than Tuesday morning. Rody told them she would quit trimming momentarily, but she was apparently struck by the Lexus immediately after the county employees left.

Deputy County Administrator Bill Little said Tuesday he felt the employees who interacted with Rody did the right thing in putting in a rush work order, and cautioned residents about the risky nature of mowing in medians.

County employees or contractors who cut grass near roads wear reflective vests and put up signs to warn drivers that they are working nearby, Little said. They are also trained in how to work so close to traffic.

Little said the incident has troubled many county employees, even if they were not at fault.

“There's a great degree of empathy and sympathy for the family,” Little said. “That's just human nature. I know that they are troubled by this.”

<p>Florida Highway Patrol investigators will spend the next several weeks trying to determine what happened Monday when a driver struck and killed a woman as she cut grass in a county median. </p><p>Investigators will be looking at cellphone records and other potential contributing factors in the crash, an FHP spokesman said.</p><p>Andrea Rody, 45, was struck Monday morning as she trimmed grass in a median — near her home on Mauna Loa Boulevard — that grew high due to a county contract dispute with a mowing firm. She was flown to a hospital in St. Petersburg and died hours later.</p><p>The driver who hit her, 20-year-old Samantha Lax of Sarasota, was driving a 2001 Lexus when she hit Rody around 9:30 a.m. Monday, FHP said.</p><p>Court records show Lax has prior speeding tickets and other traffic violations on her record. FHP said it could take take up to two months to complete the investigation.</p><p>Rody's partner, Nan Nahum, said she was told by officers that Rody blamed Sarasota County government for her injuries before she died. A local firm hired to mow in the medians abandoned the $1.8 million contract in May.</p><p>Nahum, reached on Tuesday, said she was unsure if the family would attempt to sue the county, and said they have not hired an attorney.</p><p>“We haven't decided,” Nahum said. “It's too soon; I'm just trying to get through this day.”</p><p>Lax, the driver, was sent to mandatory traffic school in October 2010 after she was ticketed for going 6 to 9 miles over the speed limit, according to court records. Lax was also ticketed for failing to carry her registration in her car in January 2010.</p><p>She was first ticketed in 2009 for driving 15 to 19 miles over the speed limit, as well as for not producing her registration.</p><p>Lax could not be reached for comment. Her Facebook profile indicates she graduated from Pine View School in 2010 and attends the University of Central Florida in Orlando.</p><p>Median grasses around the county grew high when a local firm, Bloomings Landscape and Turf Management, abandoned the contract for mowing and other work. Competing firms said Bloomings' bid of $1.8 million was so low the company would not be able to perform the work. Bloomings' $1.8 million bid was well under the county's budget of $2.5 million.</p><p>Since then, the county has scrambled to find new landscaping firms to cut the grass, and that work began in three of four sections of the county last week. A contract for a company to handle the last section — the urban north — is under legal review and mowing is expected to begin there next week, according to county officials.</p><p>County employees have been handling some mowing while there was no contract, and will continue to help out the new contracted mowers until the situation is under control. But there were not enough county employees to keep up with the grass, and the backlog created means it will take at least a month for all the medians and roadsides to get back to normal.</p><p>“We're all really saddened by the loss of one of our citizens,” County Commissioner Christine Robinson said Tuesday. “We encourage everyone to be patient because this is a temporary situation.”</p><p>According to a county report, county employees on their way to mow grass in other areas were driving by and noticed Rody cutting grass at about 8 a.m. Rody cursed at the employees, asking them why the grass was so high. The employees then left and put in a work order to mow the median Rody was working on.</p><p>Two county employees returned to the area at 9:30 a.m. to tell Rody that the medians would be mowed no later than Tuesday morning. Rody told them she would quit trimming momentarily, but she was apparently struck by the Lexus immediately after the county employees left.</p><p>Deputy County Administrator Bill Little said Tuesday he felt the employees who interacted with Rody did the right thing in putting in a rush work order, and cautioned residents about the risky nature of mowing in medians.</p><p>County employees or contractors who cut grass near roads wear reflective vests and put up signs to warn drivers that they are working nearby, Little said. They are also trained in how to work so close to traffic.</p><p>Little said the incident has troubled many county employees, even if they were not at fault.</p><p>“There's a great degree of empathy and sympathy for the family,” Little said. “That's just human nature. I know that they are troubled by this.”</p>